Category: Spring Training

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Spring Training

CACTUS FEVER

Cactus Fever is back! It’s great to finally escape the Covid bubble for spring baseball. Keep watching this space for more game reports.

Saturday, March 19
Milwaukee 11 at Texas 0
Surprise Stadium, Surprise
Temp: 79, partly sunny.

Brew Crew Routs Rangers

If Milwaukee fans were worried about run support for their fantasy baseball chart-topping Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and Josh Hader, today’s game was one to file away for future reference. The Brewers scored early, often and — aided by three Texas misfires — trounced the Rangers 11-zip.

Back-up catcher Pedro Severino got the start and made the most of it with a first-inning, two-run bomb off Dane Dunning that sailed over the 400-foot sign in center. The Brewers poured two more across in the third when Adolis Garcia let a Kolten Wong fly ball to center get the better of him. Garcia looked to be tracking the ball well, then slowed and the ball bounced behind him off the warning track for a double. Luis Urias cashed Wong in with a single to right. Severino’s hot bat smashed a double, moving Urias over to third. Urias should’ve easily scored on the play but he pulled up lame at third and was replaced by Brice Turang. A Tyrone Taylor sacrifice fly scored Turang and Milwaukee led 4-0 after three. The Rangers had yet to put a man on base.

The Brewers added a run in the fourth when Jonathan Davis walked, stole second and came home on a Rowdy Tellez single to right. Milwaukee doubled their score in the fifth, exploding for five runs — all unearned — against Nick Tropeano, who gave up four hits while recording one out. It was a somewhat complicated affair. David Dahl led off with a double and moved to third on Jonathan Davis’ ground out. Andruw Monasterio hit a grounder to Yonny Hernandez who set to throw to first. But Dahl broke for home and as Hernandez paused to recalibrate, his feet had other ideas. He slipped, went down in a heap and his throw home landed on Greenway. Turang dropped a single into center, advancing Monasterio to third. Weston Wilson, pinch hitting for Tellez, punched a ball to Hernandez. Yonny’s toss to second was an adventure. His second error of the inning allowed Monasterio to score. Brett Sullivan doubled home Wilson and Turang. Sullivan eventually scored on a Corey Ray line-drive sac fly. When the dust finally settled after Dahl’s second at bat of the inning, a deep fly ball to Willie Calhoun in left, Milwaukee had reached double digits. An eighth inning Wilson dinger topped the fence in left to make the final, 11-0.

Texas only mustered three hits on the day and two of them came in the ninth inning. After Jonathan Ornelas struck out, Zach Reks and Nick Tanielu hit back-to-back singles, stirring the crowd. Or maybe it was the collective surprise that two consecutive batters were both wearing number 64. Unfortunately, Steele Walker — “great name for a wrestler,” said one fan — hit into a double play to end the game.

Ballpark Buzz … Concession stand wobbly pop selection included Papago Orange Blossom. Four Peaks’ The Joy Bus WOW American Pale Wheat Ale was plastered across the outfield wall, ensuring parents would have to explain to their kids what puts the “WOW” in beer. … Lamest ballpark promotion in living memory: Mid-fifth inning, a young fan with his face up on the scoreboard was asked how many Banner Medical Centers serve the state of Arizona. (You won’t find that on the back of a baseball card.) It gets better. The options were: A) 7 … B) 51 … and C) 43. Oh, they are so coy. The poor kid had no idea. Do NOT raise your hand. I refuse to give the answer because it would mean they won. Banner Medical Center, it is not all about you. You. Are. At. A. Baseball. Game. … The Texas Rangers Pro Shop has outstanding gear. I wanted to buy one of everything. I think the designers had so much time off during Covid that they came out of their hiatus with all the haute couture $34.95 could stand. Check it out. … Finally, as I strolled/ambled down West Greenway Road to the ballpark, I marveled at how baseball really is heaven on earth because when the Gates of Spring Training open, we are all eleven.

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Spring Training

CACTUS FEVER / Sat-Feb-29

Chicago White Sox 6 at Texas Rangers 7 … Surprise Stadium, Surprise … Temp: 72, Sunny

Swihart Swat Sends’em Home

The Rangers’ Blake Swihart snapped a 6-6 tie with gusto, depositing Bryan Mitchell’s first pitch of the bottom of the ninth onto the grass beyond, a.k.a. spring training lingo for the cheap seats. It was the fifth long ball for both teams in a homer-happy slugfest, with the Rangers prevailing 7-6. Mitchell (0-1) took the loss while the Rangers Ian Gibaut (1-0) pitched a scoreless top of the ninth to pick up the win.

The Rangers opened the scoring in the home half of the first when a Todd Frazier sac fly plated Shin-Soo Choo, on board after singling. The Chisox Eloy Jiminez, he of 31 jacks last year, launched one in the top of the 2nd over the 359′ sign in right. The blast scored Daniel Palka, who’d singled to open the inning, and briefly put the Chisox up 2-1. In the bottom of the 2nd, Rangers catcher Nick Ciuffo doubled home Rougned Odor who’d walked leading off the inning, to tie the game at 2.

Luis Roberts’ solo shot — a clothesline drive  — over the yellow Dickey’s sign in center  field in the top of the fourth put the Chisox on top 3-2 and that’s the way it stayed until the bottom of the seventh. Chisox pitchers had been sailing along, with Tanner Banks, Adalberto Mejia, Carson Fulmer and Tyler Johnson retiring 12 straight Texas batters before 6’5” Ronald Guzman hit one on the screws, lining it out of the park to dead-center. After Blake Swihart popped out to third, Eli White whalloped one over the left field wall to the top of the grass, giving the Rangers a 4-3 lead.

That got the Chisox woke. Ramon Torres and Andrew Vaughn opened the top of the eighth with singles and following a Zach Collins strike out, Jacob Brugman basically broke the baseball. The blow was a prodigious, rain-making blast that fell just short of the white tent 40 feet beyond the right field fence (379 ft). It landed about 10 feet before the bar. I pegged it at about 420 feet. Chisox up 6-4.

The Rangers had runs to rope. They corralled the two they needed quickly. Adolis Garcia singled to open the bottom of the eighth and scored two batters later when Leody Taveras doubled him home. Following a Nick Solak strikeout, Andy Ibanez hit a clutch, two-out RBI-single, driving home Garcia and tying the game at 6, setting the stage for Swihart’s bottom of the ninth heroics. 

Bunts, Bits & Bites … The win evened Texas’ Cactus mark at 4-4 while the loss dropped the Chisox to 4-3. The Rangers outhit the Chisox 10-9. The two teams played error-free ball. One humorous highlight had Ibanez in the seventh, launching a towering fly ball to left field where the Chisox Jiminez eyed it and began loping in underneath it. He came in a little hot, stopped, slipped and went down in a jumbled heap. Did I say towering? Every fan waited for the ball to land beside him. Except Jiminez had time to get back up and make the catch. Chalk one up for his concentration. … Yoan Moncada got off the schnide, going 2 for 3 to raise his Cactus average to .182. … All five dingers today were the first homers of the spring for all hitters. … Guzman bears a striking resemblance to former Rangers slugger Juan Gonzalez (1989-2004: 434 HR). The strapping 25-year-old looks like the real deal. … What kind of Odor will the Rangers have this year? With a robust 30 HRs and sub-Mendoza .205 BA from 2019, will Rougned continue to swing for the fences at the expense of his BA? He and new teammate Todd Frazier (2019: 21 HR, .251 BA) may commiserate on that. The .251 is a much-needed improvement for Frazier, as from 2016 thru 2018, Frazier hit 85 HR but his average never crawled above .225 (2016). … Drink of choice: Coors Light / Sprite shandy. Sat in Section 112: Second row behind Rangers dugout. … On the menu: $9.00 Jumbo dog. It was a buck-fifty more than Mesa, but unlike Mesa, the bun extended the entire dog. So the extra bread was indeed for extra bread.

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Spring Training

CACTUS FEVER / Sun-Feb-23

San Francisco at Oakland … Hohokam Stadium, Mesa … Temp: 60, Mostly sunny

Brantly Brings Home Winner

An 8th-inning single by Rob Brantly snapped a 3-3 tie, bringing home Brice Johnson with the winning run as the Giants topped the Athletics 5-3. Jacob Gonzalez would score an insurance run for the Giants in the top of the 9th when he scored on a Parker Dunshee wild pitch. Dunshee would take the loss (0-1) while Sam Wolff recorded the win (1-0). The Giants improve to 1-1 while the A’s remain winless at 0-3. They lost their other split squad game Sunday 7-3 to the DBacks.

The Giants got on the board first in the 3rd when Abiatal Avelino touched them all with his first cactus dinger, a solo shot laced down the left field line inside the 340-ft foul pole. The next batter Jamie Westbrook walked and came around to score when A’s third baseman Matt Chapman missed second base with a missile throw, trying to nab Westbrook at second after Chapman fielded a Jacob Gonzalez ground ball.

The A’s tied it up in their half of the 3rd when DH Mark Canha hit a sharp, clutch, two-out single up the middle to score Austin Allen and Chapman. 

Giants CF Joey Rickard, who went 2-for-3 on the day with a double, singled home Westbrook who’d doubled earlier to go up 3-2 in the top of the 5th. But the A’s answered right back in the bottom half when, after Tony Kemp fouled off 5 pitches, he launched a long bomb to right-center into the bullpen. Unfortunately Nate Orf was caught stealing a couple of pitches before Kemp’s blow, negating an A’s lead. 

Bunts, Bits & Bites … Mike Fiers started for the A’s. He of course exposed the Houston Astro sign-stealing scandal. The fans were receptive to him as he retired all six Giants he faced, striking out Wilmer Flores. … The Giants fans didn’t travel that well. San Fran is typically a tough cactus ticket to get your hands on but there were a lot of empty seats down either line. … A’s RF Luis Barrera got a long look today, the only player in the game not to be replaced. He didn’t disappoint, banging out 3 singles in 4 at bats. Kemp added a single with his homer to go 2-for-3 on the day. … Airline flights overhead averaged 5-6 per inning. Drink of choice: Blue Gatorade. My better half and I sat in Section 200 — great seats behind home plate. Nice views of, from left-to-right, McDowell, Red and Usery Mountains. On the menu: one huge jumbo dog, a beyond-the-bun deal at $7.50.